Page 45 of The Alpha: Part Three
Lopez has insisted on staying on the phone with Seth the entire time and he's determined to fly out to the hospital to see to the care of these omegas himself. He's taking this very personally. I think that's a good thing. He had such a heavy hand in the rogue operations for a very long time, whether he enjoyed it or not. A lot of lives have been destroyed because of his work with Flores.
“Doctor Owens?” Seth asks. He's keeping a polite distance from them. He's been putting up a good front, but he's wound up so tight thatmyneck is starting to hurt. I hope all this doesn't cause him to have an attack. He's been doing really well for the past couple months, even with the sexual stuff. But this is a van-load of damaged, afraid omegas and if anything will set off an attack for him, this is it.
Rachel answers instead of Remy. “That's who they kept talking about. I didn't know he was a doctor. I've only heard people refer to him as Mister Owens. I think he's the one in charge of the main facility in the Northern territory. They said he was going totagus before we were placed or matched or whatever.”
“Did you overhear anything else? Maybe a location of the facility or compound? Any names?” Seth continues.
Rachel exchanges looks with several of the other omegas who each shrug or shake their heads. “I only heard three names. Owens, Lopez, and Ward.”
“What did they say about Lopez?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Not much. Just that some of us would be shipped to him. I thought Flores was in charge of the West Coast?”
“He was,” Ben smiles.
It takes her a minute, but she returns his smile. “Maybe Lopez will be next.” She looks at Desie, her smile fading a little. “We were lucky you came along. I know they were going to try to take you, but thankfully they didn’t get the chance. Now you’re here saving us.”
“You saved yourselves,” Desie tells her. “We just provided a distraction. You did the hard work.”
Almost an hour later, three medical units pull up to collect the omegas. Elizabet calls Seth to let him know that she's sending a team to stay with them at the hospital and that the team will help them get back to their homes. Most of them are from the Southern territory, and don’t live too far from each other. Hopefully they can get checked out and escorted back home soon.
“I wish they had more information,” Desie sighs, leaning against me again as soon as we get going again.
“They had another name,” Seth says. “And they said Owens was a doctor. They also think Lopez is in charge of the West Coast, and that's good. It will help if nobody knows he's working with us. I'm so glad we were there to help them.”
Ben glances at him. “How are you feeling? That was a lot.”
Seth leans his head back against the headrest, letting out a slow breath. “I'm alright. They were okay for the most part. They were so brave.”
Ben nods, his eyes back on the road. “They were. I wasn't expecting any of that. Well… I expected to shoot that one guy and any other guys that were with him, but I definitely didn't expect those omegas to pull him into the van. It was awesome.”
Twenty hours and six stressful bathroom breaks later, we pull off the highway onto a long road. The sweet scents of the Zaphir distillery are an unexpected treat. I don't know why I thought it would smell sour, like something rotting, but it's sweet. It's cold, too. We've had the heat on for most of the trip. Seth keeps telling us that it's almost spring, but the bare trees and dull landscape make it seem irrelevant.
It's still wild to me that we not only get to call Corso Zaphir family, but that we also live next to him and his distillery. I can't wait to see what this place looks like when it's not cold. We only have a few short weeks until the baby gets here, and I would really love it if everything was in bloom when he's born. Or she. We still don't know. In the stress and excitement of everything, Desie hasn't had time to have more than a functional scan to get basic measurements. The baby wasn't very cooperative during that scan, so we still don't know if we've got a boy or a girl on the way. I'm happy to be surprised. I think we're all happy that we don't know yet. I don't care which we have, so long as the baby is healthy and has Desie's eyes.
We drive slowly past what Seth calls the manor. It might as well be a castle. It's huge. And there's a fountain in front. Brandon grins and waves at us from the porch with one hand, Dutch squealing and dangling by the ankle from the other. Devon steps out from the garage to wave us to a stop.
“Glad you made it. Did you have any more trouble?” he asks when Seth rolls down the window.
“No,” Seth answers. “It was smooth after the thing with the omegas. Is everything okay here? I probably should have asked if you needed anything from town.”
Devon shakes his head. “Talia would beat your ass and mine if I asked you to stop for anything. Kaleb's at your place. He's got it heating up and he'll give you the keys and show you around. Y'all want to have dinner with us or take some time to rest and decompress after the trip?”
Seth looks back at Desie.
“I don't know,” she says. “Can I let Talia know in a little while? I definitely need to stretch and rest.”
Devon smiles. “I'll tell her you're going to rest for a while. It's no big deal if you decide to stay home. She put some dishes in the fridge and the freezer, so you won't have to cook if you decide to stay home. Are you feeling okay? Obi has texted. And called.”
“I'm fine,” Desie says, smiling. “Just ready to be out of the truck. I'll let Obi know we're here safe and everything is alright.”
Devon nods and knocks on the side of the truck. “Good. Okay, I'll let you head on down. Call if you need anything.”
Kaleb is standing on the porch when we get parked and start climbing out. The wraparound porch. It looks like the house started out as a cozy little cottage but it has grown into an estate over the years. It's not as huge as the manor, which is a relief. Seth might be used to all these big ass houses and things, but Desie, Ben, and I aren't. We're already juggling so much change, exchanging our small house for a gigantic mansion would just be too much.
I like the extra outdoor space, though. And the woods. I really like the woods that surround the whole property. Ben likes them too. He keeps looking at them through every window we pass as we follow Kaleb. One of the first things we're going to do is run through those trees and I can't wait.
“Thermostat is here,” Kaleb points to the box on the wall in the hallway outside the main room. “I doubt I need to show you how it works, it's just a thermostat. Are one of you more technically inclined than the other? I'd like to give you a rundown of the security room. We set it up in the small room beside the utility room downstairs.”
